Ipswich to Boulogne, France

At last the boat was unloaded on Saturday June 8, with no problems, and we were able to move on board. Saturday and Sunday were big days for cleaning the boat, with Fred kindly helping on Saturday. We couldn't get out of the marina until the tide was high when we went through the lock, so it was about 11.00 am  yesterday when we did that and we crossed the Channel to Boulogne yesterday afternoon and last night. The crossing was not rough and there was not as much shipping traffic as we thought there would be, so the trip was not too bad at all.  In one section of the Channel we could see hundreds of wind turbines and it was quite eerie looking at them through the mist. How interesting to build

a wind farm at sea.

It is not sunny today here in Boulogne, but it is not as cold as Ipswich in the UK. We knew today was not going to be the best weather which is why we wanted to cross the Channel yesterday in fairly calm seas. We arrived here at 1.00 am and it was not much fun trying to work out where to go in the dark. In fact it was fairly stressful and the Frenchman in charge of the harbour was not being helpful at all, not answering most of my requests for advice, in my very best French. Finally he told us to go where we could see a fishing boat coming from and we found a marina to tie up at a dock. We hope the rest of the trip is easier. We have a long way to go before we get down the coast of France and I think it will be weeks before we get to really good weather. Tomorrow it is going to be windy with a top temp of 12 so we will stay here in Boulogne. At least we could buy some excellent food today, but not good fruit and veges.